Billy Wagner

It’s one of my favorite times of the year! Since becoming a member of the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) in 2015, I’ve taken great joy in getting to vote on year-end awards and Hall of Fame.

Just because I feel like I always need to explain this: the IBWAA is a distinct and different group from the BBWAA which is the group of writers who vote on the actual recognized awards and participate in the actual selection process for the National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum that you all know. The IBWAA Hall of Fame is a separate, non-physical entity that has many similarities as far as the people elected, but there are differences there as well. For a breakdown of last year’s IBWAA voting, click here and catch up on the results. As you’ll notice, we selected Vladimir Guerrero last season and Edgar Martinez the year before which is why they won’t show up on this year’s IBWAA ballot.

Where as the BBWAA can only vote for a maximum of 10 players, the IBWAA allows us up to 15. That doesn’t mean I have to select 15, but this year, I actually did go over 10 which felt really easy to do based on the glut of what I perceive to be qualified candidates. Continue reading →